I am writing a new article about using the passive, which should be available in the next few days.

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Vocabulary

to assassinate = to kill an important or famous person. An assassin is the killer.

a riot = when a large group of people become violent. They usually destroy things and attack the police.

an inmate = a criminal that lives in a prison

the Kremlin = a large government building in Red Square, Moscow

to infiltrate = get access to areas controlled by an enemy

an intruder = someone who goes onto private property without permission

to raise the alarm = make people aware something is wrong

to pursue = to follow someone/something

a server = a central computer that shares files with other computers

a stunt = something dangerous that is done for entertainment

I watched Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Wednesday.

The main character in the film is Ethan, played by Tom Cruise. The film is action-packed and will not fail to impress lovers of action films.

It was action from the start. The film starts in Budapest, where an IMF agent (the good guys) is assassinated by a woman. Following that, there is a scene where Ethan is in a Russian prison. Some other agents, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton), rescue Ethan from the prison after causing a huge riot by opening most of the cell doors and allowing the inmates to escape into the corridors.

After Ethan escapes, he meets up with Benji and Jane who tell him that there is information that the assassin at the start of the film stole nuclear missile launch codes from the dead agent. It is then believed that a dangerous enemy, known as Hendricks, may use the launch codes to start a nuclear war.

Some secret information is being held in the Kremlin so the IMF team needs to infiltrate it and get the information. While Ethan and Benji are inside the Kremlin, an unknown person sends a message over the radio, which alerts the Kremlin's security to the intruders. The alarm is raised and Ethan and Benji need to get out fast. Just as they escape, a massive explosion destroys a huge part of the Kremlin, and America is blamed for it. The president closes IMF down, but the team continues to pursue Hendricks.

They go to Dubai and retrieve the launch codes from the assassin who is planning to sell them to Hendricks. They go to the tallest building in the world, which is where the meeting will take place. The IMF team must gain control of the hotel's lifts, but they need to access the server to do it. Ethan has to launch himself outside and climb the building, over 100 floors up!

The stunts were amazing. Tom Cruise really did jump out the building and do the stunts himself. It wasn't done on a computer.

The meeting goes wrong with Hendricks and he escapes. The team follows him to Mumbai where more action occurs.

I won't reveal what happens at the end. You'll have to watch the film to find out.

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• Crimbo, "What are you doing for Crimbo?"
• Xmas - This is used as a short form in writing, which is often seen on shop windows and in some Christmas cards. The 'X' is pronounced /krɪs/ when we refer to it or read in in our head, just the same as in Christmas /'krɪsməs/
• Noel - is often seen in Christmas cards and sang in Chrismas carols. E.g. "The first Noel ..."
• Yule - is an old word meaning 'Christmas'

to raise /reɪz/ means to put or lift something into a higher position.

to rise /raɪz/means to move into a higher position.

You can think if it in this way: if a living thing causes (makes) something go higher, we use the verb raise. If we aren't talking about the living thing that causes something to go up, we use the verb rise.

The video below gives an introduction.

A piece of string can be long or short, so this figure of speech means that he didn't know how long it was going to take. He wasn't asking me about the length of a piece of string.

It's important to be careful when you use this expression because some people might think you are being sarcastic.

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Remember, the present perfect is used to talk about the past up to now and uses the auxiliary verb, 'have'.

Time is often divided into named blocks (years - seasons - months - weeks - days -morning - afternoon - hours - minutes - seconds). If we are talking about something that happened in a block of time and we are currently in that block of time, we can use the present perfect. If that block of time has past, we use past simple.

Look at the pictures below and see how the conversations are different.

Conversation 1:

What time is it?

Is it still the morning?

What part of the day is Jeff asking Carol about?

When did Carol do and finish the work?

Conversation 2:

What time is it?

Is it still morning?

What part of the day is Jeff asking Carol about?

When did Carol do and finish the work?

----

In the first conversation, Jeff and Carol use the present perfect (HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE) because Jeff is asking about the morning (today) and it's the morning now.

In conversation 2, they use the past simple because Jeff is asking about the morning (today), but now it's the afternoon. The morning has finished.

Look at the sentences below. Why is the present perfect being used in sentence 1, and the past simple in sentence 2?

I phoned you today, but there was no answer.

1. I've been to the gym this afternoon.

2. I went to the gym this afternoon.

In sentence one, it is still the afternoon, but in sentence two it is sometime in the evening or night.

We can use the same structure to talk about days, weeks, months, years, seasons etc.

I've been on holiday to Brazil this summer. (It's summer now)

I went on holiday to Brazil in summer. (It's maybe autumn or winter now)

I've been out all day. (It is still the same day)

I was out all day. (Maybe it's very late now or the day after)

Here's another picture conversation:

Conversation 1:

Conversation 2:

In conversation 1, it's Monday, which is the start of a new week, the man's colleague was sick from Monday to Friday the week before. The man asked his colleague a question about a clear time in the past (last week) that finnished before now.

In conversation 2, the man's colleague was sick on Monday and Tuesday but returned to work on Wednesday. The colleague was sick all the way up to Wednesday and when the man asked him, he used the present perfect, which means from a time in the past up to now (Wednesday).

If the man wanted to ask about yesterday, he would ask, "Were you sick yesterday". "'yesterday" is a specific time in the past that has ended.

If you want to learn more, ask me about learning English Online using Skype or other voice chat software.

The present perfect is used to talk about sometime in the past up to now.
To create perfect tenses, we need to use past tense verbs. You may know that the past simple of play is played and the past simple of go is went, but when we use the present perfect we use what's called the past participle. The past participle of go is gone/been. All regular verbs that end with -ed in the past simple also end with -ed in the present perfect, easy. Some examples are shown below.

play – played - played

go – went – gone/been

cook – cooked – cooked

drive – drove - driven

“Have you ever?”

This question is asking for a yes or no answer about experiences in the past from birth to now, but we don't need to know the exact time when or how many times it happened.

Look at the picture below (the baby is when Joe was born and the boy is Joe now). Someone asks Joe about his sporting experience.

You cannot see any tennis experience in Joe's life, but you can see basketball and boxing.

Check questions

When did Joe play basketball? In the past.

Do we know exactly when? No.

Look at the conversation and picture below.

Caroline: Hi Max!

Max: Hello Caroline. You okay?

Caroline: Yeah, great! I'm going to book a holiday next week.

Max: Lovely. Have you ever been to Spain?

Caroline thinks about all of her travels from when she was born to now.

She cannot remember ever going to Spain, so her answer is, “No, (I haven't)”.

Max asks Caroline, “Have you ever been to Italy?”

What's the answer?

The answer is, “Yes, I have”.

Form

Questions:

Have + I/you/they/we + ever + PAST PARTICIPLE + __________?

Has + he/she/it/your relative/name + ever + PAST PARTICIPLE + ___________?

I included 'I' because sometimes we repeat a question if we misheard it or are surprised by it.

Have	I you they we	ever	played eaten seen fallen	tennis ostrich a ghost off a roof	?
Has	he she it your brother Philip

Replies to questions:

Yes + I/you/they + have + PAST PARTICIPLE + _________.

No + I/you/they + haven't + PAST PARTICIPLE + _________.

Yes + he/she/it/your brother/name + has + PAST PARTICIPLE + ___________.

No + he/she/it/your auntie/name + hasn't + PAST PARTICIPLE + ___________.

Yes,	I you they we	have.
No,		haven't.
Yes,	he she it your brother Philip	has.
No,		hasn't.

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A very common mistake made by students is confusing adjectives that end with -ed and -ing.

-ed adjectives are used to tell others how you or a group of people that include yourself feel.

Here are some examples:

I'm bored.
We're all tired.
I'm excited about my new job.

-ing adjectives are used to talk about the things that make us feel bored, tired etc.

Here are some examples:

This lesson is really exciting.
Museums are interesting.
My geography teacher at school was so boring.

Look at the pictures below and decide which ending should be used in the sentences.

A) bor_ _/_ _ _

Susan is ________ (1)because Brian's conversation is really __________(2).

B) excit_ _/_ _ _

Steve is very ________ (3) about his new car. He thinks that driving his new car is very _________(4).

ANSWERS BELOW

Okay, now check your answers.

Susan is bored because Brian's conversation is boring.
(1) We are talking about Susan's feelings.
(2) Brian's conversation is the thing that makes her feel bored.

Steve is very excited about his new car. He thinks that driving his new car is very exciting. 
(3) We are talking about Steve's feelings.
(4) Driving is the thing that makes him excited.

Maybe you can think of other examples.